Gaming PC's are making a come back due to the consoles lagging in gaming performance edge.  So we are seeing some pretty awesome gear coming out which would have filled a room and cost a fortune hitting the shelves.  I am not sure how much this "lappy" would weigh in but it would sure kick out some rev's for sim racing.

ORIGIN PC announced the availability of their new EON17-X desktop replacement laptop, the most powerful laptop for gamers, artists, and professionals. Today ORIGIN PC announces the world's first 3D laptop with dual graphics cards: The EON17-X3D featuring the latest Intel X79 chipset, 2nd generation Intel hexcore processors, and dual overclocked NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580M graphics cards in SLI. The EON17-X3D marks the first 3D laptop from ORIGIN PC with a customizable backlit keyboard with three lighting zones and seven color options.

There is no doubt that viewing technology for sim racing is an area which will revolutionise in the next few years.  The images we see while driving set the feel for the rest of the senses.  Before I get started on why "flat screen" TV's and 3D ares self defeating, I was encouraged to read about Toshiba's technology advances in glasses free 3D viewing.  

Here is a good article on where Toshiba is placed and what we can expect as commodity items soon.  I wonder if 3 x 55" glasses free 3D screens wrapped around you would work?  

'Glasses-free 3D' hits big time as Toshiba sets a date and price for 55-inch set - with a resolution FOUR TIMES hi-def

A while back, Eurogamer ran a report revealing that full-resolution stereoscopic 3D using the HDMI 1.4 standard was coming to the Xbox 360. Five months on, Batman: Arkham City is the first shipping game to utilise it.

Previously there has been some confusion as to whether the Xbox 360 hardware is physically capable of carrying the HDMI 1.4 stereoscopic 3D signal. There was some concern that the older HDMI 1.2 standard supported by the Xbox 360 couldn't be extended in the same way that the HDMI 1.3 controller in the PlayStation 3 was repurposed to support the new standard.

However, the release of Batman: Arkham City confirms that from a hardware perspective, any Xbox 360 with an HDMI port can offer the same level of support as the PlayStation 3. Our analysis of the game confirms that the two consoles are both outputting the same 1280x1470 60Hz signal. This comprises of two native 720p images, with 30 lines of blanking information between them.

One of 3D gaming’s biggest advocates has been Mick Hocking, senior group director of Sony Computer Entertainment’s Worldwide Studios 3D team. The founder of Evolution Studios, which is now part of Sony, supervises the development of 3D games, including development of PlayStation’s auto racing brands and the anticipated “Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception.” Speakeasy caught up with Hocking about ways that 3D can actually improve the gaming experience.

What will make today’s 3D more enduring than the red and blue movie 3D that we’ve seen regularly reappear over the past 50 years?

I think the crucial thing we’re seeing this time, unlike in the 80s or even back in the 50s, is a convergence of technology. What we’ve seen in convergence of display technologies and processing power coming to the point now where we can offer very high quality HD 3D experiences to gaming fans for a very reasonable cost. A cost that all consumers can buy into. In terms of technology, that’s why it’s appeared again.

Why has 3D failed to stick in the past?

It was popular, but then it failed because people just did not get good quality 3D experiences. And, of course, they vote with their feet and then walk away. 3D was always a compromise before. You could either have fairly high quality but at huge cost or you could have a lower more reasonable cost but you couldn’t have any quality in terms of the display and latency of drawing images in 3D.

How are all of these new 3D initiatives creating more context for non-gamers?

Even in 12 months, we’ve moving on very rapidly from the first 3D TVs to things like the PlayStation Monitor. At CES [Consumer Electronics Show] this year, we saw a whole proliferation of 3D devices that came on the market. Things like 3D cameras, camcorders, Bloggies, tablets, laptops and mobile phones. A lot of these things allow people to create their own 3D content. People will then want to enjoy that content on large screen 3D TVs and, therefore, go out and buy a upgrade to a new 3D TV.

You’ve worked on military flight simulators where depth of field is important for realistic training. How have you applied that technology to enhance game playability?

It’s only when you get right close to the ground with bombing runs or helicopters where 3D becomes really critical. It’s even more important for racing simulators. When you put it into 3D, you then have to reproduce 3D very accurately so the racing driver believes that they are about 50 meters from a corner, and they’ll brake in the exactly same position. And if the physics model has the same performance parameters, they will get the exact same lap time in the real world.

Do people actually play better in 3D environments versus 2D?

It doesn’t make them a better games player, but if you can see something more clearly and understand something more naturally, whether it’s speed distance or scale, you can respond better to that. So we’ve found that people do get better scores in 3D.

We report on 3D technology regularly. We see 3D as an indisputable part of virtual experiences. 3D, is the essence of the world we live in. We have installed 3D lens with the positioning of our eyes and its lens mechanisms. The addition of glasses has caused a market split. The preference is without doubt without glasses. Today, it is the sort of accepted default. iPONT is an innovator taking a lead on this type of technology. Take a look at there recent press release.

Glasses-free 3D innovator to showcase real-time 3D broadcast technologies for the total immersive entertainment experience

Los Angeles - 20 September, 2011 - iPONT USA, an innovator and technology partner in the glasses-free 3D market, today at 3D Entertainment Summit 2011 introduced the second generation of its breakthrough 3D without glasses system, which gives viewers the most convincing and immersive 3D-viewing experience to date. iPONT USA will demonstrate a 3D TV Box, which converts any stereo 3D source, including ‘live' 3D broadcasts, in real-time for viewing on a 3D without glasses screen.

The demonstration by the glasses-free innovator aims to prove that without-glasses 3DTV technologies have reached a level of maturity and quality acceptable to the consumer market. iPONT has developed a system that produces real-time 3D pictures that are both clean and crisp with breathtaking depth, and all without glasses.

"Glasses-free ‘real-time' 3DTV, without any noticeable processing delay, has been an industry challenge but we are close to delivering that premium-quality glasses-free 3D experience for the consumer in their living room," said Glen Harper, President of iPONT USA. 

At the 3D Gaming Summit in Hollywood this week, some of the biggest supporters of 3D gaming met to discuss the future of the format. And with all the advancements in the tech, there's still much to learn.

Pal-Kristian Engstad, lead graphics programmer on Naughty Dog'sUncharted 3: Drake's Deception, elaborated on how his studio has incorporated the technology into its upcoming, high-profile PlayStation 3 game.

"The way I see 3D, it's a different kind of experience, it's a closer experience. You can use it to get closer to the player. We use it so that you understand that if you step off a ledge, you might hurt yourself. It's not a sacrifice, it's an additional component to the game in our view."

He also was careful to point out one of the most prominent technological hurdles of stereoscopic 3D game development: "But when you're trying to max out the potential of a console, [keep in mind] you have to render things twice. If you have an engine that can't render as fast, you're going [to suffer] from running twice as much data at once."

Jeremy Nikolai, senior programmer at Ready At Dawn, developer of God of War: Origins Collection for PS3, confirmed a similar development experience to Engstad's. "For God of War: Origins Collection, we had to make some adjustments. The 2D game runs at 60 frames per second in 1080p. But because of the rendering associated with 3D, it runs in 720p at a lower framerate. If we were starting from scratch [instead of adapting the PSP games to home console], it would've been different."

Cheap Thrills Or Smart Implementation?

Panel moderator Shane Satterfield with GameTrailers.com cited lower-brow Hollywood films' use of 3D effects for "cheap thrills." He asked the panel what they felt the difference was between "smart" and "cheap" use of 3D effects in games.

"We were working off a remake, but we think we used it intelligently," said Nikolai. "You have to use it right. We have to be careful about 'window-in violations' and not breaking the fourth wall too much. Everything has to come through the center instead of breaking that dimension from the sidelines," Nikolai said. He also mentioned that the team established a "virtual bubble" to ensure that any flying 3D effects came from within specific areas to enhance gameplay, rather than provide cheap thrills.

Naughty Dog's Engstad elaborated. "We initially just implemented 3D, then all of the designers got really impressed and started thinking of what they could do to make it better. It's paying off now."

"It's important to use the medium appropriately," added Simon Benson, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe's senior development manager for its 3D team. "It's not just video, there's more you can do with it. [At Sony] we start by making sure teams understand the technical boundaries of 3D. It has its own set of rules. It's a high quality video mode, and once you hone the technical boundaries, you then implement creative."

"It's a two-phase process. 3D on PS3 is only 12 months old," he said. "It's still new. We still have 60 games. At this point, people are learning to implement the creative elements now that all of the technical work has been established."

3D's Low Adoption Rates

Moderator Satterfield cited an NPD sales figure that reported that in 2010, only 4 percent of televisions sold in the U.S. were 3D-capable. With a softer market, he shifted the attention away from creative implementation to the challenges facing the 3D market.

What it boils down to is creating content that convinces consumers that investment in 3D is worth it. "For our technology to work in games, [we] must work directly with teams from the outset to design titles that utilize it," noted Guy Matteotti with 3D middleware company TriOviz.

The ZL2 boasts a range of technologies designed to provide a decent 2D and 3D viewing experience, including face tracking, Resolution+, Auto Calibration, 2D to 3D conversion, and Smart TV features including Toshiba Places.

The ZL2 is the world’s first TV targeted at consumers to include a Quad Full HD display, offering a mega 3840 x 2160 resolution compared to the standard Full HD which is 1920 x 1080.

The glasses-free 3D technology is based on the stereoscopic principle of simultaneously delivering a picture to the left eye, and another one with a small offset (parallax) to the right eye, in order to achieve the 3D effect. To deliver a glasses-free 3D image a range of lenticular lenslets guide the dedicated images to each viewer in the room.

Toshiba says the ZL2 is able to provide 3D images for up to nine different viewing positions. The TV tailors the 3D to the viewers’ actual positions in the room using face tracking technology. At the touch of a button, it is able to detect where each person is sitting, and adjust the viewing zones accordingly which it does by moving the lenslets.

If you were waiting for a more affordable 3D-capable DLP projector that can provide you with native 1080p resolution, than Optoma might have just the right thing for you, their new Full HD 3D projector with model number HD33. Most certainly Optoma HD33 is not the first Full HD 3D projector out there, however it is the most affordable one that combines the high resolution with 3D support and that is actually the most interesting thing. The end user price of the Optoma HD33 should be about $1,499 USD, and that is something very attractive indeed considering that most other more-affordable alternatives with similar features are at least twice or even three times more expensive.

Now, before getting too excited about being able to play games in Full HD resolution in stereo 3D mode on your PC, I should make it clear that this projector (like most other such) relies on HDMI 1.4a interface, something that is both good new for some users and not so good for others. Since the Optoma HD33 projector does not feature a Dual-Link DVI interface you can forget about being able ot use it with 3D Vision for gaming in stereo 3D mode at 1080p resolution. The projector might however get added as a supported product in the 3DTV Play software, however it will not be compatible with the 3D Vision active shutter glasses. You’ll need to use a pair of DLP Link active shutter glasses or Optoma’s new BG-3DRFGLASSES 3D-RF glasses (actually looking exactly like Monster Vision Max 3D made by BitCauldron). Apparently the projector has been developed for entertainment purposes, Blu-ray 3D movie watching or for console gamers willing to play in stereo 3D mode for example and not with PC gamers in mind.

It appears that Codemasters have greatly improved the 3D Vision support in the new PC Patch 1.02 for the game DiRT 3, although they do not say anything specific in the release notes for the patch regarding stereoscopic 3D support. So if you’ve postponed playing the game in stereo 3D mode due to the various issues it had before patch 1.02 was released, now you can try it again, it should be handling great in stereo 3D mode with 3D Vision.

DiRT 3 PC Patch 1.02 Release Notes:

- Resolved an issue which could prevent the user successfully saving with profiles that contained unicode characters.
- UI elements are no longer incorrectly displayed in Gymkhana
- Improvements to input system, supporting multi-device action maps. The user can now set button configurations to span multiple devices; previously a bug would cause these settings to be lost upon game restart.
- Corrected various spelling mistakes across all languages
- Reset line corrections to prevent potential ‘out of world’ or ‘driving into crowd; issues on several tracks
- Corrected an issue which could, in rare circumstances, prevent the display from rendering in the event of 16xCSAA being selected.
- Steering wheel no longer jolts to the left in the race reward screen
- Removed an incorrect limitation which could cause VSync to lock the refresh rate to 60Hz on a 120Hz system.
- Physics output to motion simulators is now correctly faded out at the end of a race, preventing some situations within which motion would continue after crossing the finish line.

Sony has confirmed that its 24-inch Playstation-branded 3D TV/ monitor will be arriving in the UK and Europe this autumn. First unveiled at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) 2011 back in June, the tri-dimensional display is meant to provide an accessible entry point (read: a cheaper alternative to a full-fledged 3D-capable HDTV) for 3D gaming.

Equipped with edge LED backlight and active-shutter 3D technologies, the Playstation 3D LCD monitor/ TV features the company’s proprietary “SimulView” functionality which allows two players to view two different full-screen pictures on the same screen, which is likely to contribute to a more exciting multiplayer gaming experience. To enjoy this feature both players will have to wear compatible 3D eyewear, but fret not, because Sony has thoughtfully included two pairs of 3D glasses with sets sold in the United Kingdom and Europe.